Chocolate Coffee Ice Cream Bars

The Seattle weather is finally back. It's overcast and cold. My favorite. This last Friday was the last day of my 5 week art program. I'm said to say goodbye to some of the amazing people I met, and it was overall a great experience. My class' work will be up at the Seattle Art Museum starting in September or October, so you should take a look. There are some really talented young artists in the class. I will get a more specific date soon. Now that I have more time, I will try and make up for the dwindling number of posts that went up this last month. I figured a good place to start would ice cream sandwiches. I wanted to do something less like a sandwich, so I did a layer of brownie on the bottom, coffee ice cream layered on top of that, and covered in a dark chocolate shell. I've made something similar to this in the past, but I changed one big thing: the coffee flavor. So often in coffee ice cream, I feel like I'm only getting a little taste of coffee, with some cream. I wanted this ice cream to scream, "This is coffee ice cream!". I think I got a nice flavor in the end, and these are a great summer treat. The days are getting colder, so make them while you can.

Brownies

2 sticks unsalted butter
5 1/2 oz unsweetened chocolate; chopped
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup AP flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a square cake pan with walls, flour the sides. Line with parchment, leaving a 2" overhang on the long side of the pan. Grease and flour the parchment. Spray sheet-pan with nonstick spray, line with parchment, spray parchment. Melt butter and chocolate in a double broiler. When melted, set aside and let cool to room temp. Meanwhile, beat the eggs and sugar until mixture is thick and lemon-colored. Next, add the vanilla. Fold the cooled chocolate mixture into the eggs and sugar, mixing thoroughly. Sift flour and fold gently into batter, mixing just till blended. Pour into prepared pan, and bake for about 12 minutes, depending on your oven. Allow brownies to cool in pan for 20 minutes before taking out of pan.


Coffee Ice Cream

1 cup whole milk
6 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
2 teaspoons coffee extract
2 cups heavy cream

In a saucepan over medium heat, warm the milk until steam begins to rise from the surface.

In a heatproof bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and salt until blended. Gradually add 1/2 the hot milk, whisking constantly until fully incorporated. Transfer the mixture back to the saucepan and set over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or spatula, until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon and leaves a clear trail when a finger is drawn through it, do not allow the custard to boil.

Whisk the instant espresso powder into the cream until dissolved. Pour the custard through a fine-mesh sieve set into cream and stir in the vanilla and the coffee extract. Refrigerate until cold [at least 2 hours]

Transfer the custard to an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.



Chocolate Coating
6.5 oz bittersweet chocolate
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Melt chocolate in microwave in 30 second bursts, stirring in between until melted. Stir in vegetable oil thoroughly. Let cool

Assembly

Once the brownies are cool, use a knife to loosen the edges from the pan, and remove from cake pan. Place back inside cake pan. Once ice cream has gone through the ice cream maker, spread evenly on top of brownies in cake pan. Freeze overnight.

When the ice cream has hardened, make the chocolate coating. Take the cake pan out of the freezer and remove brownie/ice cream onto a cutting board. Cut into even squares, then return to freezer for 15 minutes. Prepare a pan lined with parchment and a cooling rack resting on top. Place ice cream bars on the cooling rack and ladle chocolate coating on top of bars. Top with crushed almonds if desired.